Senior Bowl tailgating secret: Be one big, happy family

View full sizeSenior Bowl fan Jay Barnett steps out of the outhouse that he and his friends set up for their tailgating fun before the Senior Bowl Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. (Press-Register,/Chip English)

MOBILE, Ala. -- A sold out game? No problem.

For hundreds of tailgaters, it’s all about the party outside the Senior Bowl — from the food to the music, it’s a good warm-up act for Mardi Gras, they said today.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 5 years old,” said Larry Smith, an employee for Comcast Cable and the chief wing chef for his group of tailgaters. “We’ve got wings, shrimp, pork and Conecuh sausage. We’re here every year for the last 10 or 12 years.”

A few recreational vehicles down the row, Kirk Walker worked shifting quail, venison, sausage and huge slabs of pork on a grill.

“We are from KD Automotive,” said Walker, a 30-year veteran of the art of tailgating, by his own estimation. He helps cook for the Walker/Wright Tailgate Party every year.

He claims the secret’s in the marinade and in the atmosphere of sharing that makes it one large party.

Rickey Wright said it’s part of the city’s heritage, and Mobile people enjoy supporting the Senior Bowl, enjoy the food and “fellowship with friends.”

“Game day for me,” Wright said, “is right out here” — with the game an incidental event.

Next door, Cleon Jones, the former left fielder for the New York Mets who caught the final out of the 1969 World Series, had a grill seemingly the size of his hometown of Plateau.

“We do it every year,” he said, motioning at a spread about 30 feet long between two RVs. “We’re the Tailgaters. We try to make all the sporting events all over the country — here, the Super Bowl, wherever. We are just sports enthusiasts. We love Auburn, Alabama and just all sports.”

The winners

In the formal Tailgate cooking contest, the winners were as follows:

Best Barbecue: Young Sun Coaster’s

Best Gumbo: Krewe of LSU

Best Starter: Diesel Pusher’s

Best Party: United Way

Most Interesting: Pay for Play

Best Seafood: Excessive Celebration

Overall Tailgate: Who Dat

Hall of Fame: Boy’s Day Out

He said the group has 20 years of tailgating, and works every year to improve by asking the people who come to the party to make suggestions.

“We ask people what was missing, and then we add that,” he said. “We’ve got everything from roast hog to chicken feet and chicken livers and gumbo. The best part about the Senior Bowl is the food.”

Lynell Matthews of Baton Rouge and Roy Lee of Mobile said the same thing as they uncovered a steel-lined wood box that contained a whole pig roasting since 7:30 a.m. They called the charcoal-heated box a “Cajun microwave,” and it drew lots of attention as people danced nearby.

Today, children ran to and fro, and teenagers danced to live bands and recorded music played loud and proud. Footballs flew over the crowded corridors as game time approached. And everywhere, everywhere, there was the smell of glorified tailgate food.